The Things you See

Inside a duck blind

At Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge

A one-legged Ring-billed Gull 

Eating road killed cheeseburger

In a McDonald's parking lot

Double decker farm peeps on the prowl

Ferocious kitchen wolves going in for the kill

There is no time for boredom, no way, nohow....

Habit

Right now we are using two pastures although we will soon open a third. The girls go to the old cow pasture in the day time and the heifer pasture at night.


They have been doing this since the men got the cow pasture fence finished.


Now, even if given the choice to travel to the larger, grassier, shadier and all around nicer cow pasture at night, they will not go without a fight.


The other night when the girls were bringing Velvet down, we had planned on putting them in the day field at night, so they wouldn't stomp the poor little critter any further into the swamp.


They had other thoughts and as soon as the gate was opened they charged up the lane to their accustomed night time accommodations.


Then the boss forgot to close the gate to the day field last night, so when we turned out, the cows could have chosen to go that way, while the heifer field gate was shut. 


They were so eager to get into the heifer pasture that I had to jump out of the way of old Lakota when I opened the gate. You sure don't want to get between them and where they are going in all this mud. Your feet can get stuck and if they brush against you, you are down.


When we were digging Velvet out Liz got stuck and twisted and fell and I thought sure she was going to break a leg. We have a lot of clay soil and it sure is gummy and sticky. Thanks to lots of milk though, her young, strong bones held up to the insult though.

Sounds of the City

White-crowned sparrow

At four o'clock this morning I heard a donkey bray. It was underneath the window and not too far away.


Then they started banging garbage cans; it sounded like an army. And monkeys started howling. I can tell you they're not charming.


I woke right well and thorough. No going back to sleep. It sounded like the city. Or a thousand blatting sheep.


Someone was doing surgery without an anesthetic. And the monkeys didn't like it; it was getting pretty hectic.


Then suddenly the penny dropped, though I got up anyway.


And damned those stupid peacocks for the way they start their day.

Honey, You're not Sparking

The girls went out to pasture yesterday; not much grass, but they enjoyed what there was. Old Heather, Liz's retired show Jersey, led them out and brought them in. You gotta love a lead cow... It was nice to see them out there although it would have been better if they were at least ankle-deep in nice and green.


In between working on the big fence and getting them turned out Alan did some diagnostics on the Blue Bomber, which has been running kinda rough......(ya think?) He brought that spark plug in for show and tell and the main question we had was how and why it was running at all.


And then there's honey. The same boy with that nifty spark plug has been pestering me to make beef stir fry. I had a couple steaks left over from our last beefer, which was much better than the current one, so I sliced them up into thin slabs, fried them up fast and and added fresh broccoli, diced garlic, chopped walking onion tops and lots of sliced carrots.


However, I was at a loss for a sauce....bare cupboards and all. But there is always ketchup...which with added honey, spices, and vinegar can become almost anything. 


I have several different sorts of honey. I love the stuff. It keeps forever and is good for so many things that it is a staple for us. Whenever I meet a local beekeeper at a fair or something I try to buy some. Younger brother sent down a jar from his own bees a while back and we hadn't opened it yet. It was the least crystalline of the bunch so I spooned out a bit to nuke and put in the sauce.


And a good cook has to taste. So I tasted the honey. (Have I mentioned that I love honey?) Holy cow! That is the best honey ever! Orange blossom, which is super good, and basswood (my previous favorite) move right on over. It tasted of spice and flowers and zingy sweetness that was simply incredible. It was like standing in a meadow full of wildflowers with the breeze and the bees buzzing around you and the sun shining down...plus cinnamon. How I wish you could taste just a little too, because it is totally amazing! Like the great outdoors in a spoon. Thanks bro...

Finally

Finally finished the Farm Side, which is usually fun, but sometimes frantically frustrating. 


Liz says it is hailing wherever it is that she is milk inspecting today. Gloomy and grey and cold here. The grass got up just so far and than stalled and if anything is going backwards, drying up and freezing off.Supposed to warm up soon though.


Burned up a lot of yesterday trying to paint this Godawful cowboy on a fence, which the man for whom I paint yard art wants hurried up because he has it sold. The thing is huge and just getting it out to paint on it was a pain...and then I discovered that I don't have any blue paint for the blue jeans. (Whine, whine.) Way back when I first began this job of painting wooden things, I didn't buy blue because I was painting ducks and cows and they are generally not blue.


Since we have to visit our accountant this afternoon to sign and send out the taxes, I guess a trip to Wally World is in order, (whine, whine, whine).


Heh, enough whining, time to get back to work.

What are the Men

Doing today?


***Update Injector and number one piston from the old 930 Case. She is getting yet another do over. Alan says she has 18,000 hours on her, so I guess she has earned it.

Redneck Landscaping

Yesterday I was complaining about the lousy "yellow lilac bush" I bought at Wally World ten years ago or so. The darned thing took four years to bloom and when it finally did it had tiny, white flowers that were so not lilacs. Little things the size of your pinky and drab as dirt

 A Match for any Lilac Bush

 I have been cutting it down ever since.


As I was lamenting its pointless persistence and wishing for a flat place to set the smaller bird bath, the boy said, "I'll get it out."


Always distrust that smug tone of voice in a young man...or even in an older man. They like to do things in.....well, a big way.....


And get it out he did, with a huge, thick yellow towing strap and the weapon in the top photo.


Can anyone say overkill?

The great, big, evil lilac bush

At any rate it's gone, roots and all and when it stops snowing I can smooth the ground and move the bird bath.

LFTB

Pink slime they call it. What a tempest in a tea pot, (although not for the people who lost their jobs or the estimated million and a half cows that will be needed to replace this safe, wholesome product, which has been in use for twenty years.) 

Way to go media activists and agenda-driven celebrities. 


Here are some links:


USDA fact sheet

No process can make an inedible product edible "The resulting product is very low fat
(95+% lean), which many consumers desire.  This process is very similar to the one used to
separate cream from milk." 

Sure the stuff sounds icky, but trust me, many aspects of producing food seem icky. Hot dogs..... And we've been eating it for TWO DECADES without it hurting anybody.


Our so-called "news" has become instead a mess of sensationalist fear mongering and incitement  to meaningless action with not even a hat tip to facts or science. I infinitely prefer the beef we grow for ourselves, but I am not afraid of the darned stuff at all after actually taking time to research it.


Meanwhile, of course I like our homegrown hamburger better. It is already lean....

Clotheslined

I'm sure that in the winter a clothes drier's a fine thing...just a rumbly, numbly, grumbly and your laundry's nice and warm.


And on those gloomy, damp and rainy days too, I'm sure gonna bet.


Not much else that you can do when all your stuff is wet.


But on a sunny, June-in-March day, not unlike this outright fine day


A couple trees and a hank of rope is plain flat out the best way.


A nice, long, waving clothesline beats a homely metal box.


Nineteen ways to sideways, and seven days a week


Bracing breezes set the jeans and sweatshirts dancing, 


Do-see-do. 


A junco twitters sweetly from the spruce (wish I could "follow" him and hear his "tweets" all springtime long.)


Sun-shined purple petals on the crocus by the pond and the maples cross the river have their summer lipstick on.


Yeah, on days like this I'll take a clothesline any time...Laundry isn't work at all in this sunny springtime world.

Self Portraits

Yet Another Best Search Term Ever

Somebody landed here from a Google search for "reason for a hairy butt"


I wonder what they thought when they found the backside of a hairy woodpecker.

So Far This Fine Day

Finished the Farm Side early and sent it to the esteemed editor. The NASCO catalog provided  subject matter this week. (Why didn't I look at the website earlier? I used the paper catalog....I could have really had fun with the "Outlaw clippers". I know several outlaws who could use a good clipping.)


Finally heard a real cardinal out in the yard and not a tufted titmouse cardinal impersonator either. Those titmice will fool you sometimes, into thinking they are red. The geese are getting so excited these days, flying around clamoring. I think they will be heading out soon.


Finally got the call that Licorice finally had her calf.....a big bull by Maxwell....couldn't have been a heifer, could it?


Off to work...have a good one.

Just Another Drop of Water

Happy Valentine's Day

OMG, there's a construction worker playing xbox in my dining room...what to do, what to do....

at least with all that protective coloring you won't trip over him

Just another day for us and I am fine with that. We have our quarrels and troubles like all families do, but my family is very good to me every day...don't need a holiday to make a big deal about it.

Happy Saturday

Not much going on...the boss smashed his finger between two oak logs yesterday so he is in a world of hurt. In typical farmer style he soldiered on all day, after sticking it in an ice cold creek back in the woods for a while. It takes more than that to slow him down. He was kinda unhappy with various cows who thought it would be a nice idea to thump on it when he was milking them last night though.


Have a good Saturday. If nothing breaks, or gets loose or gets sick or decides to have a calf I am going to make chicken today for those who will watch the SB tomorrow evening...I will not be among that number......

Last Year's Weather

Northstar, a name the calf graduate, all grown up

Is still hanging around biting everybody right...well you know where. Even though we are enjoying this long spell of warmer than normal weather, what happened last summer is having lasting ramifications for farmers and ranchers from the southern borderlands to the far, far north.


Nobody has feed...well, some folks do, but there are a lot of shortages and staggeringly high prices for what is out there. We are about out of haylage, maybe a couple of days worth left, and buying round bales...spring and green grass can't come soon enough for me!


The guy we buy our crop seeds from called the other night...talked to the boss for quite a while. He wanted to give us a heads up that the seed we buy from him will nearly double in price for this year...drought in Texas wiped out most of the seed crop. He is big, successful farmer but he will be out of feed soon and told of dozens of customers who are feeding out their last bits. He thinks a lot of folks who have bought from him for a long while won't be in business this summer.


And yet, the big players are still manipulating the CME, while the milk to feed ratio drops like a rock. I am sure somebody will still be making milk come spring...the Chinese are buying dairies in New Zealand so their farmers can be trained how to do it right (first clue...leave out the melamine...it tends to kill people.) 


China has also become the world's number one nation for feed grain and oil seed production and yet they are still huge importers of food products and feeds....and ammunition or so they say.....


***Dad update. It has been a really tough haul for Dad and for Mom, who has been an amazing trouper through it all, but yesterday she reported solid progress. He is in rehab now and is doing stairs and getting around without the walker. Your prayers have been appreciated more than you could possibly imagine...thank you!

Beware those Secret Shoppers

The boss does a lot of our shopping...I am kind of a hermit, and he likes to shop...and yesterday he ran up to an area store to get a spiral ham and a birthday cake (although I can bake cookies with the best of them I don't do cake.)


He wasn't exactly dressed for the prom, if you get my drift (although you can take my word for it that he cleans up pretty good.) Anyhow, various store employees kinda, sorta, ignored him so to speak.


He waited a while at the checkout, then suddenly a dressed up sort of fella saw to it that a whole bevvy of cashiers corraled up to wait on him.


 Then the dressed up guy approached him and offered him a job as a secret shopper.


Being a fairly busy sort of lad, he declined, but we got a heck of a good laugh out of it....


So, anyhow, watch out. You will never know if that grubby, haircut-challenged guy, who looks like he lost his razor is just an old farm boy...or a corporate spy!

What has it Got in its Pocketses?

A recent comment reminded me of a long ago incident that etched itself quite solidly in my memory.


Before the boss and I were married I worked on a much larger dairy, milking around three times as many cows as we do now. One of my duties was overseeing a series of young men as they learned to milk cows and work in the milking parlor and dairy barn. 


There was a series because as fast as they were trained to do farm work...to show up at five AM, milk cows, climb on a tractor or up in the haymow and work til evening milking, then milk again, then maybe get on a tractor again....they found easier work elsewhere. It wasn't the pay, because our boss paid really well.


It is a well-known fact that̶ I̶ ̶a̶m̶ ̶b̶o̶s̶s̶y̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶h̶e̶c̶k̶ delegate tasks quite well.


Which I suppose may be behind what happened one day. I had milked both milkings with the trainee of the day. We didn't really get along all that well....I must admit that he was not my favorite kid to work with and I wasn't sorry when he inevitably moved along to greener pastures far away from real pastures. Guess I wasn't his favorite either.


Anyhow at the end of the day the boss kindly drove me to the grocery store. We shopped. I paid (we were only dating at the time.) I went to put the receipt in the back pocket of the clean jeans I had left hanging in the barn storage room so I could change after work.


There was already something there. It was soft and about the size of the plastic baggies I carried my lunch of diced apples to work in. I pulled it out to throw it away.


It was not a plastic bag.


It was a dead mouse last seen curled up on the storage room floor.


I screamed and flung the thing high in the air to the amazement of fellow shoppers and cash register girls. There was no question at all how it had found its way into my pocket.....




The boss was eager to track down my coworker, with mayhem on his mind (today he would point and laugh) but we threw the mouse in the trash and slunk out of the store... embarrassed half to death at my girly display.

The river is running fast and full of ice

No mayhem has ever been wreaked over the incident...but I have not forgotten.....

Saturday

The bicarb and salt tire.....forlorn and empty

Still nothing big going on, which I guess is good. Worked on 1099s yesterday, no big deal for those who have a clue, which...alas...I don't.


Was interested and appalled to note that in order to send the clearly labeled form to the folks who require them you must send another form so they know what the first form is...to convey it so to speak. These are the same folks who want us to live green and conserve and all that stuff...a form to send a form yeah, that makes a world of sense.


But the frosting on the cake was a mouse in the washer...after washing of course. It was a little deer mouse and the washer made it all fluffy and clean. 


And dead. Did I mention dead?


I picked it up with a napkin and threw it out for the cats, which appear to prefer dirty mice, so I had to dispose of it in a better fashion later.


And then I washed everything again...and a second again...just in case. 

Kateri Tekakwitha

This story is probably a little off-topic for a dairy farm blog, but we grew up Catholic and Kateri was born just a little bit down the road from here. Her shrine is right across the river and we pass it often, when we head up west for supplies and groceries. 


Her name was as familiar to us when we were school kids learning area history as those of Sir William Johnson and Joseph Brant. To read that she is finally to achieve sainthood seems fitting and proper and maybe even a little personal. She feels kind of like an old friend.


She was a lady of this valley a long time ago, but still....if she had looked South across the river from the Mohawk village or "castle" of Caughnawaga where she lived part of her life, she would have seen the hill where our house and barns sit today.